Monday, May 05, 2008

The Marvel announcement

WARNING: Major "Iron Man" spoiler follows (though how much longer this can remain a surprise is very much in doubt) so be warned.So, "Iron Man" sold in the area of $100 Million dollars in tickets, exceeding it's boxoffice expectations by about 30-40 mil and basically putting a big "Take Us Seriously" sign on the new Marvel Studios. That's the business news. For fans, the biggest POSSIBLE news came after the credits, when those prescient enough to sit through the credits saw an extra scene in which Samuel L. Jackson - playing the "Ultimate Marvel" version of Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., shows up at Tony Stark's house to talk to him about something called "THE AVENGERS INITIATIVE."Yeah.For those for whom that doesn't have much meaning, "The Avengers" are Marvel's premier superhero team; boasting a rotating roster of members that usually starts out including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Ant-Man/Giant-Man and The Incredible Hulk. You may notice that that list ALSO neatly comprises the roster of Marvel characters who have films either in release or production under the singular "Marvel Studios" banner. So the question is, is this just MASSIVE optimism on Marvel's part, or are this summer's "Iron Man" and "Hulk" movies part of a long-term plan. As of today, Marvel has an answer:http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080505/20080505005656.html?.v=1Short version: "Iron Man 2" and "Thor" in 2010, followed by "The First Avenger: Captain America" and 2011 and "The Avengers" after that. Regarding the titling of those last two: In general Marvel continuity, Captain America is a WWII-era superhero who finds himself trapped in suspended animation just before the end of the war and is later revived in modern times, where he joins and becomes de-facto field leader of The Avengers; so the titling there could concievably indicate that Cap would debut in a WWII-set film of his own and then turn up time-displaced in the "Avengers" movie... which is almost too cool to contemplate.Awesome.

1 comment:

A friend used to joke about the Superman movies, saying that Superman wasn't fighting Lex Luthor, he was fighting Gene Hackman, crazed actor who, for some reason, was obsessed with land. By this reasoning, Kevin Spacey wasn't playing Luthor, he was just playing Hackman.

Similarly, I hold that, in the Brawndo Universe, Samuel L. Jackson is simply the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury being removed from the equation.

And yes, I tend to refer to the Ultimate Line as the Brawndo Line. Bendis gets to continue writing Ultimate Spider-Man, but the rest often get referred to as Brawndo X-Men, Brawndo Fantastic Four, the Brawndoes, etc. I feel that this accurately represents the moral and intellectual level that Mark Millar likes his comics set at.

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About Me

Bob is a part-time independent filmmaker, part-time amateur film critic and full time Movie Geek. He is heterosexual, a pisces, and a severely lapsed Catholic. He is a tireless enemy of censorship, considers his personal politics "Libertine" and enjoys acting as a full time irritant to overly serious people of ALL political stripes.